The deadline for releasing Qatar's state budget for the coming fiscal year will be pushed back to the end of May because of changes to the government's accounting system and the way it prepares budgets, Qatar's state news agency said.

QNA cited a decision by the cabinet.

Normally, the budget is announced by April 1 each year.

During the postponement period, the government will operate under the terms of the current fiscal year's budget.

In future, budget estimates will be given for three-year periods and then ratified each year during the period, the statement said.

Qatar's budget spending for the 2012/13 fiscal year, which starts on April 1, will be much higher than in the current year, an economic adviser to the country's emir said last month.

In its 2011/12 budget, the world's top liquefied natural gas exporter originally planned spending worth QR139.9 billion ($38.4 billion) and a surplus of QR22.5 billion, or 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product.

Partly in response to political unrest elsewhere in the Middle East, Qatar hiked basic salaries and social benefits for the state's civilian employees by 60 per cent last September, while military staff received 50-120 per cent rises.

The International Monetary Fund estimated such extra social spending would add $1.6 billion to expenditure in 2011/12. – Reuters